The Hagia Sophia
by reno385
Summary: Samus and several other bounty hunters board a cruise ship undercover to find and capture an important Space Pirate who could be on the ship.
1. Homecoming

**Disclaimer:** Samus and everything related belongs to Metroid, not me. I do, however, own everything else, including the snow. You know those late night flurries y'all hate so much? Yours truly. I'll try to stick to the Metroid storyline as best I can, but if there's anything wrong about it that you notice, don't hesitate to tell me about it. Also, this story takes place directly after Metroid Fusion. Enjoy!

Chapter 1- Homecoming

**-11:38 PM-**

**-JFK International Airport, New York City, Earth-**

_Life. It's the basis of the universe. Like the sands of an endless desert, each individual grain is almost meaningless, but it's part of the whole, if only a little part. The funny thing about us is, well, that we try to live our lives towards the continuation of life, the desert, even though if we didn't, the universe would probably just keep on going, missing only one grain of sand. We're all just trying to do our parts. Most of us, anyway. Some of us strive under the interest of themselves, putting the whole in danger. So, for the whole, they must be eliminated. That's where I come in. I've killed space pirate after space pirate under this principal. Sometimes, the going gets tough and I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it out. But the next pirate could always be the one who ends up conquering us all. The more I take down, the better chance of the survival of life. So, I keep on fighting. And it is under this principal that I will fight to my death._

This was the gist of the thoughts racing through Samus' head as she entered her starship into the hangar and landed it. Oftentimes, coming from a mission, Samus was overwhelmed by a feeling of patriotic pride. It was a feeling she well deserved.

When she got out of the ship, a man in a black suit stood waiting for her, smirking as she hopped off her ship. "Welcome back, Ms. Aran. I trust you have had a good trip."

Samus released the air latch on her helmet. She took it off, shaking her head and brushing the golden blonde hair out of her face. "Never better."

The man talked as Samus took off the rest of her Chozo suit. "We will be going straight to the Galactic Federation headquarters. Once you talk to your commissioner and make some public statements, you'll be free to leave. I'm sure you're exhausted."

"That's good," Samus said as she took off the torso of the armor and began unlocking the legs. "There are some things I need to ask him anyway."

"Before all that, though, we'll need you to make some statements in the conference room. Not much, though. Just give some straight-forward information and get out of there as soon as you can." He added that last part with a little emphasis.

"Why do you say that?" she asked as she took off the last part of the suit, the legs.

"Because it's hell in there."

* * *

"Everyone, please… now, now hold on… but… well… SHUT UP!" Sergeant General Steve Kinto was being asked a thousand questions per second. 

One reporter shouted over the noise, "Sergeant General Kinto, are you or are you not Samus Aran's dispatch officer?"

"Yes, I am!" He ruffled a hand through his dark, mangy hair in frustration as his emerald green eyes squinted, dazed from the endless camera flashes.

"So how can you not know about her mission status?"

"I just don't, I don't have the clearance to know at this time."

Another shouted, "Then how much _do_ you know?"

"Look, all I know is, she went to SR388 to give security support to the biologists there, there was an accident involving surgical procedures, and she is alive and well. That's all I know."

"Sergeant General, is there anything you're not telling us that you should?"

"Yes, in fact, there is, and it's that this meeting is over." With that, he stomped off the podium and into the doors behind him.

Once in the hallway, one of his advisors followed him from the conference room as they hurriedly walked past the executive offices. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"I am _fed up_ with this shit, Kelly. I can't stand it anymore."

"Well, I might have some good news for you then."

"Yes?"

"We just received word that Samus has landed at JFK airport. She's on her way right now."

Kinto stopped in his tracks. "Oh my God. Are you serious?"

"Uh… yeah, actually."

There was a silence in which the two just stared at each other. Then Kinto heaved a massive sigh of relief. "Well it's about time! Tell the reception to send her up here ASAP, okay?"

"Yes sir."

Kinto, making his way casually to his office, could not help but smiling to himself. He entered his warm, cozy office overlooking New York City on the 74th floor. The window behind his desk didn't make up the whole wall, but was rather wide and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. With his hands together behind his back, he stared out this window through the flurry of snow to the metropolis below him that stretched to the horizon. Many times he stared out this window (which he personally made sure and tested himself that it was completely bulletproof), and it always relaxed him.

He turned around, sat down in his soft, comfy chair, plopped his feet onto his desk, leaned back, and closed his eyes. It was all over now. The hectic conferences, the accusatory news articles, and all the politics that had been beating him relentlessly for the last week or so, was now finally over. Samus was returning from the newly dubbed Operation: Metroid Fusion. Her soft, soothing voice would make everything better….

The door slammed open. "You."

He opened one eye. "Ms. Aran. How nice to see you again, I heard you were—"

She stomped to his desk, leaned over it, and seized his throat with her hands, bringing his face close to hers. "You knew."

"Uh… wha?"

"The metroid experiments. You knew about them, didn't you?"

"The what experiments? I had no idea—"

"Don't you lie to me! I'm serious!"

"All right, all right!" He wrenched her hands off of him, rubbing his neck. "So I may have been informed of certain… goings-on… but I couldn't tell you. Classified information, I hope you understand. You know, you weren't even supposed to find out about it."

Samus sighed. "Yeah…"

"Got that report for me?"

"Yeah, I finished it on the way over here." She indicated a green folder she had brought into the room and tossed onto the table before strangling the good sergeant general.

He thumbed through the folder. "Hmm, looks good… ugh." He stopped on a page that had a photo of Samus being operated on paper clipped to it. "… is _this _what they meant by being fused with your suit? My God… that's just… gross. Why did you put this in here?"

Samus shrugged. "Visual aid."

"Too visual." He closed the folder and set it on the desk. "I'll look at it later. Does the press know you're here?"

"Not yet. I'm supposed to make some statements though."

Kinto sighed. "I guess I should come too. Man, I just got out of there…" He got up and dragged himself to the door, opening it. "After you."

She smiled. "Thank you." So, together, they went to face the hellish nightmare known as the conference room.

Well, that's chapter 1. For more information about this story, other stories of mine, etc., feel free to check out my bio. And a review is always welcome, whether praising or flaming, I like both. If I get more reviews I might add some stuff like previews or bonus chapters.

Also, if anyone's interested, I'm looking for a beta reader. None of my friends can do it because, frankly, they all suck at writing except for a chick who sits at our lunch table once every other day at school, but she's not really into the kind of stuff I write. So, if anyone is interested, you can e-mail me. Thanks for reading :)


	2. The Impossible Escape

A/N: Hmm… okay, this is the chapter where most of my original characters are introduced. The majority of this chapter is a part where it creepily reminds me somewhat of the Justice League. So it might be a little cheesy… but, I did my best, right? Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2- The Impossible Escape

Suite 309. It was Samus' "official" home. At the GF headquarters, there was a building set aside for accommodations for VIPs, visiting government officials, etc. Room 9 on the third floor was where Samus always stayed during her short breaks in New York City, and the Head of the Accommodations Department, a friend of Samus' from the Space Academy, always kept it open for her.

When she woke up the next morning, she noticed that one of the lights on her laptop on the nightstand was flashing red. It meant she had an e-mail. She opened it up and clicked on the blinking icon, opening up the mail. It was from Sergeant General Kinto.

_samus_

_holding a meeting in boredroom 5 at 1150 hours. some major prrate commandos on the loos and they want us to fallow him. i know yu just got back from sr3388. im sure yu dont mind its probably killing you having nothin to shoot. c yu than_

_Steven A. Kinto_

_Sergeant General 2nd Class_

_4th in command of Wing 935, Commander of Squad 23-E_

Samus could not help but laugh at the neatness and formality of the signature as opposed to the sloppiness and poor spelling of the rest of the letter. Her laughter was soon cut short, however, when she looked at the clock and noticed that she had twenty minutes to get ready.

BREAK

Samus was the last to enter the boardroom. Kinto stood at the front of the room in front of a slide projector. Sitting at the long table were all the bounty hunters in Kinto's squad, 23-E. Sitting near the front was Roger Stamos. He was the youngest one of the group, and often a bit hot-headed. He had untidy brown hair and eyes to match.

Sitting near the middle of the table were K-Vst and Ash Gartison. Soon after Samus went to Aether to help out the Luminoth, the Galactic Federation began to make more ties with the previously isolated Luminoth. K-Vst (who preferred to go by Karen) was one of the first Luminoth to join the GF as a bounty hunter. It was a little comical and a little sad how she tried to fit through doors and sit in chairs designed for the humans, a smaller species.

Ash Gartison was one of the more experienced members of 23-E. He joined the GF at about the same time as Samus, with the same goals, resulting in a sort of rivalry between the two. Somehow, they ended up in the same squad, probably to the humor of the manager of training at the Space Academy.

Ruby Velmina was the newest member of 23-E. She had transferred over from another squad a few months before. She had dark skin, long black hair, and a tall figure. She was a valuable member of the group because of her skill as a swordsperson. And of course there was-

"Ms. Aran," Kinto greeted. "Nice of you to join us. A bit late?"

"I overslept."

"Give her a break, Steve, she just came back from a big mission," Ruby put in.

"Shut up," Kinto said, which was basically his way of saying 'Please be quiet now, the briefing will now begin'. "Anyway, now that everyone's here, we can get started." Kinto turned on the projector and shut off the lights. The first slide was a mug shot of a space pirate. "As you have all probably heard by now, Space Pirate Grand Commando Embers, who was captured and imprisoned at the Galactic Federation Maximum Security Prison on Mars roughly three months ago, has recently escaped and is currently at large." He pushed the clicker. The next slide was an image of a high-tech prison cell. "The walls, ceiling, and floor are made of two-foot thick bendezium alloy. The door to the cell is also made of bendezium, and in addition, the doorway holds an infrared barrier which will immediately combust anything that goes out. It only allows objects to pass through into the cell.

"Each cell in the compound has four cameras inside, four cameras on the other side of the door, cameras watching every square centimeter of the place in regular, thermal, and X-ray vision, and there is a ratio of six guards to every cell in the compound."

"So how did he escape?" Alex asked.

He shrugged. "We have no idea. All we know is that the cameras inside the cell were doctored somehow; I guess it showed the same image of him sleeping on the cot even after he escaped. But, no one opened the door, and even if they did, he couldn't get past the infrared barrier. It is designed so that once it is turned on, it can't turn off. Once you go in, you can _never_ come back out. Ever." Kinto sighed. "Also… he couldn't make it two inches without getting blown to pieces. The strangest thing is, that none of the guards were hurt, and neither the regular, thermal, nor X-ray cameras spotted him. It's like… he just vanished."

He paused for what Samus thought was a shot at a dramatic effect. "Y'all get the point I'm trying to cross here? There's no fucking way out of this prison." The next slide was a picture of a large, luxurious ship. "This is the Hagia Sophia. Not the chapel built in Constantinople."

"Current day Istanbul," Roger put in.

"Shut up, I was about to say that," Kinto snapped. "The builder of this cruise ship was from Turkey, and for some reason or another he named it the Hagia Sophia. Anyway, the ship now belongs to Admiral Antimo, a shady politician from one of the colonies on Mars. Allegations have been stated that Antimo was in league with the pirates, and that this ship is a storage for that lovely little juice we call Phazon. These allegations, uh, were proven false…" He then coughed awkwardly. "Right. Anyway, they're sending squads like us to about anywhere they think this guy is gonna go, and that this ship is a berth for Phazon is an idea that is not really a real problem, but they don't want it to be ignored."

"To top it all off, to keep this guy from expecting anything, this will all be undercover. You all will have new names and identities. Won't that be fun?" He took out four envelopes behind the projector and passed them out. "These are your plane and cruise tickets, personal information, and new IDs. The cruise lasts for seven days in the Caribbean. Everything you need to get there and everything you need to know is in those envelopes. The cruise leaves at 9 o' clock on Sunday. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Okay, then. Meeting adjourned."

Well, that's the end of chapter 2. Don't wanna sound desperate for reviews, but… twitch see y'all later!


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